Claims by Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney that his Department's cruel badger snaring operation is "humane" and "does not involve snares" have been branded outrageous and unbelievable.

In a video posted on Youtube, Minister Coveney tells viewers: "What we are continuing to do is have a humane and targeted cull of badgers which does not involve snares or anything like that. It involves trapping and catching badgers and putting them down in as humane a way as we can."

Minister Coveney's version is far removed from the ugly reality. Since 1984, an estimated 100,000 badgers have suffered "excruciating pain" in Department of Agriculture before being later shot in the head. The assault on this supposedly protected species takes place under licence from the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Bernie Barrett of Badger Watch Ireland describes what happens: "The method of capture is a barbaric wire snare which holds the helpless badger in excruciating pain until it is dispatched by gunshot. Thatís provided the animal has not agonisingly strangled itself beforehand. When nursing female badgers are snared and shot, their cubs are left to starve to death underground."

A Department of Agriculture snare awaits its next victim and right, a dead badger in a department snare.

According to the Irish Wildlife Trust, 6,000 Department of Agriculture snares are set in Ireland every night and there are fears that the species is now endangered. The IWT is opposed to the badger cull and states on its website: "Badgers can die over extended periods struggling in these hideous devices while their young starve underground. Not only is it barbaric and unethical, recent findings have shown it to be ineffective in the war on bovine TB. Nobody has ever counted badgers accurately in this country and while it has always been assumed that they are common animals, this can no longer be taken for granted."

Watch a video of an Irish badger being rescued from a Department of Agriculture snare

ACTION ALERTS

Demand an end to the cruel snaring and killing of badgers. Visit our Campaign Page now.

Please write to the Minister for Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs and to the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Remind them that the Wildlife Act, for which they are responsible, lists the badger as a protected species. Demand that they stop licensing the snaring and killing of thousands of badgers as part of a cruel and discredited TB eradication scheme.